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Week of Nov. 27, 2024: KFC & MAGA, the young’ns, crosswalks, respect for CDN

Send letters, maximum 250 words, to letters@cascadiadaily.com

Editor,

To recycle a phrase I wish I had made up (but didn’t):

Any non-MAGA person buying a Tesla is like “a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.”

Abe Jacobson
Bellingham
Editor,

How did Democrats win so big in Washington and still not get the presidential election right? Washington is out of touch.

I’m over here in Clallam County, the longest lasting bellwether county in the nation. We got it wrong this time too. We predicted the president every time since 1980, till now. What changed? For us, it has been the huge influx of Californians. They came from a state that has become a cesspool, both figuratively and in places, literally. They forgot to vote differently when they got here.

Whatcom County has a different demographic with the younger people. They are out of touch with rural America. Oh, they like to play in the country, but they could never live in actual rural America. Today’s younger generation has no idea what the people who make up the backbone of our great nation live like. Today’s urban and suburban youth have no idea what it takes to build a country. How can America survive with the young future leaders we have coming of age?

My own Whatcom County roots run deep, with both my parents having been born there, but I wonder if I could stand to live there again. Geographically speaking, most of America is politically antithetical to Whatcom and now the former bellwether Clallam counties. How did we get so ideologically separated from the rest of America? Could we be wrong? The next four years will be telling, for both sides of the divide. As for me, I’m goin’ fishing.

Mark A. White
Port Angeles
Editor,

“What’s one thing you’re appreciating about Bellingham these days?” asked a friend who lived here many years ago. “The Cascadia Daily News,” I replied, without hesitation.

This valuing of local journalism, highlighted in Ron Judd’s post-election column (CDN, Nov. 7, 2024), was reinforced this week in NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross in her interview with veteran national journalists Marty Baron and David Remnick:

“Remnick: There are all kinds of news deserts all over the country that have been created by this new news ecology so that small newspapers and medium-sized newspapers have either shriveled to the point of disappearance or they’ve closed their doors completely …

“Baron: No question that the disappearance of local news outlets has had a severe impact, not only for communities but for our profession. There’s so many people in this country now who’ve never seen a reporter … Covering local news, not just doing sort of the accountability work but also covering the kinds of issues that bind us together, whether it’s the local sports or the cultural activities in the community, you know, coverage of the parks and the local environment, and you name it — all of the things that —many of the things that bring people together, we need to do that as well. And so much of that is missing now.”

I’ve encountered five friends in the last few months who didn’t yet know that CDN exists. Here’s to all of us spreading the word.

Lisa Iversen
Bellingham
Editor,

I recently had to give up driving. And while it has been a time of adjustment, the one thing I don’t have to adjust to is navigating the small roundabout at Meridian and West Illinois. It is definitely a learning experience and for many of my senior friends, they are avoiding that intersection altogether, instead driving through the adjacent neighborhood streets to travel north or south on Meridian.   

What is my concern though is the placement of the crosswalk. It is very precarious as a vehicle or truck may be exiting the roundabout with the driver’s eye to go “straight ahead south on Meridian” and suddenly, yes suddenly, a pedestrian is in the crosswalk with a serious chance of a collision between the two.

My suggestion is move the crosswalk down by the bus stop on the east side of Meridian and install the flashing lights for the crosswalk as installed on other crosswalks. 

Helen Moran
Bellingham
Editor,

“Tax and spend” was in full display on the [Whatcom] County Executive’s tax increase. Council members Galloway, Buchanan, Donovan and Scanlon refused to acknowledge the reality is we want to reduce, not increase, the tax burden in Whatcom County.

Significantly, those four council members and the county executive himself, were not in the courthouse chambers. They were online only. It is much easier to defend a position when you are not face-to-face with your constituents. Shameful. [Editor’s note: Council member Jon Scanlon was physically present at the Tuesday, Nov. 19 county council meeting, a CDN reporter confirmed.]

They ignored hundreds of statements regarding the loss of purchasing power caused by inflation. This affects homeowners, renters and business owners. Costs of groceries, gas, utilities, home maintenance, car insurance and mortgage rates have substantially increased. Instead, we heard a council member “reminding us” that much of the costs come from federal and state grants. Absent is the reality that those monies come from you and me!

Commendable were council members Bird, Elenbaas and Stremler, who voted against the increase. County council members need to be held accountable for failed programs. Success should be based on outcome and not dollars spent. A review of all programs, new and old, is necessary.

The budget increase is a stick in the eye to those who contribute the most and deserve fiscal responsibility from Whatcom County government.

John Ferdon
Bellingham
Editor,

Efficiency is a slick word that without context, infers something but says not much. Are we talking about big-picture, long-term optimizations or yet more snapshot, drive-by expedient scams? Where we again end up with some years overdue, way over budget IT boondoggle. Like One Washington? Then, who are “we” (elite do-gooders?) talking to exactly. STEMs using AI4AI, or salespersons flogging glorified 1930s office automation? Great if you’re mailing out monthly statements and meeting payroll, but not great if one wants to optimize real-time oil refining, etc.

Optimizing real-time governance, to better protect citizens from being scammed, isn’t working so we need a different approach. However, if this isn’t a completely different, greater-than-its-parts strategy, we’ll get what … some comedy-news “dumb-gov-joke” instead?

We’ll get a clue, if they start talking up streamlined smart-performance protocols, that turns into ecological, evidence-based innovation and deletes all the1930s era, one-size-fits-all rules and static, flat-earth-permit regulations. Good luck!

John C. Ruth
Bellingham
Editor,

Your recent editorial effort focused on the Holly Street bike lane has unfortunately been led by an incomplete representation of available data. Your remarks only emphasized the negative aspects of the citizen feedback. This is not balanced journalism. This approach may garner you more street cred with those who enjoy criticizing the city but it does not present the whole story. It’s as if you are trolling bike riders to see if you can catch their hair on fire. 

Unmentioned was the portion of the study revealing, that despite the perceived danger, bike ridership on Holly Street increased. These bike riders chose to use the bike lane instead of mixing with cars in vehicle lanes. The study revealed that Holly is the most important bike route connector in the larger network of bike route options through downtown. 

The study showed how important it is to figure out how to make this route safer. 

Maybe it’s the case that you simply don’t believe in the importance of having multiple modes of transportation as options. Maybe you need to get on a bike, or walk or ride the bus more often to see that cars are not the only transportation modality that our city should accommodate. 

Please try harder, Ron. We need good journalism, now, more than ever. 

Sent while riding my bike, 

Aaron Miller
Bellingham

Letters to the Editor are published online Wednesdays; a selection is published in print Fridays. Send to letters@cascadiadaily.com by 10 a.m. Tuesdays. Rules: Maximum 250 words, be civil, have a point and make it clearly. Preference is given to letters about local subjects. CDN reserves the right to reject letters or edit for length, clarity, grammar and style, or removal of personal attacks or offensive content. Letters must include an address/phone number to verify the writer's identity (not for publication).

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